Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Hugo and Nebula Winner

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[Asbed was one of my closest friends in high school; we met in Grade-11 physics class. In the summer of 1977, we were two of our school's five delegates to a special program for the top math and science students in the city; we worked together on a project involving lasers. An Armenian immigrant, Asbed lived in Toronto from August 1976 to August 1978, then relocated with his family to Los Angeles. We keep in touch almost daily by e-mail and see each other as often as our travel schedules permit.]

Sincere thanks to:

• my agent Ralph Vicinanza and his associate, Christopher Lotts [Factoring Humanity was the second book on the first two-book contract Ralph got for me with Tor; the first book on that contract was Frameshift; Chris, a fine agent in his own right, has done a lot of business on my behalf, as well]
• my editor at Tor, David G. Hartwell [this is the second book I'd done for David, who is a terrific editor; I pitched Factoring Humanity to him over a wonderful dinner at a The Mill restaurant in Ottawa on May 17, 1996]
• Joy Chamberlain and Jane Johnson of HarperCollins UK [my British editors, who bought U.K. rights to Factoring Humanity; Joy made some excellent editorial suggestions that are reflected in both the British and the American editions of the book]
• Rudy Rucker [the famed mathematician and SF writer, who answered some of my questions about hypercubes]
• Tad Dembinsky [David Hartwell's former assistant and the first person at Tor to read the finished manuscript of Factoring Humanity; his enthusiasm for it meant a lot to me; tragically, Tad passed away in September 1999, at the age of 27, from a heart attack related to childhood heart disease; the "Dembinski fields" in this novel were named in his honor, before he passed away]
• Tom Doherty [Tor's publisher; the man who authorized the two-book deal under which this book was written]
• Andy LeCount [my publicist at Tor]
• Jim Minz [David G. Hartwell's new assistant at Tor, replacing Tad Dembinski]
• Linda Quinton of Tor [associate publisher, and Tom Doherty's daughter]
• Robert Howard and Suzanne Hallsworth of H. B. Fenn [the marketing director and publicity director for Tor's Canadian distributor; they do an incredible job of placing and promoting my books in Canada].

Special thanks to Ottawa artist Larry Stewart, who graciously provided the line drawings [Larry — often known by his fannish name of "The Doctor" — is an Aurora Award-winning entertainer, a frequent Guest of Honor at Canadian SF conventions, and a very talented artist. He drew the unfolded tesseract and Necker cube diagrams for the book].

Many thanks to those who read and commented on all or part of the manuscript:

• Ted Bleaney [high-school friend; The Terminal Experiment is dedicated to him]
• Linda C. Carson [playwright in Waterloo, Ontario, and the wife of SF writer James Alan Gardner]
• Merle Casci [friend; the wife of SF writer Terence M. Green; Frameshift is dedicated to her and Terry]
• David Livingstone Clink [my brother-in-law; circulation coordinator at one of York University's libraries]
• Martin Crumpton [British SF writer, who helped with the scene in the newsagent's shop]
• James Alan Gardner [friend and fellow SF writer]
• Terence M. Green [friend and fellow SF writer]
• Tom McGee [of Nashville, Tennessee; a rare-books dealer, he read Factoring Humanity in manuscript. Tom and his partner Larry Woods have produced signed limited editions of my novels The Terminal Experiment and Golden Fleece]
• Howard Miller [blind and deaf fan I met through CompuServe; he proofreads all my books, using a Braille computer display]
• Ariel Reich [an old high-school buddy who is a Ph.D. in physics]
• Alan B. Sawyer [my younger brother]
• Edo van Belkom [fellow writer; Illegal Alien is dedicated to him]
• and especially my lovely wife, Carolyn Clink.

More Good Reading

Other dedications and acknowledgments
More About Factoring Humanity

My Very Occasional Newsletter